Book contents
- Obesity in the News
- Obesity in the News
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Way In
- 3 Studying Difference
- 4 Change over Time
- 5 Shaming and Reclaiming
- 6 Healthy Body
- 7 Gendered Discourses of Obesity
- 8 ‘A Disease of the Poor’? Obesity and Social Class
- 9 Going ‘Below-the-Line’
- 10 Conclusion
- References
- Index
6 - Healthy Body
Diet and Exercise
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 November 2021
- Obesity in the News
- Obesity in the News
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Way In
- 3 Studying Difference
- 4 Change over Time
- 5 Shaming and Reclaiming
- 6 Healthy Body
- 7 Gendered Discourses of Obesity
- 8 ‘A Disease of the Poor’? Obesity and Social Class
- 9 Going ‘Below-the-Line’
- 10 Conclusion
- References
- Index
Summary
This chapter analyses the discourse surrounding four words that are frequent and statistically salient across all sections of the press: healthy, body, diet and exercise. Through these foci, the analysis explores how the press constructs a link between health and not having obesity, as well as how individuals are implored to eradicate their obesity and reduce their risk of obesity by regarding their bodies as entities that are separate to their selves and subjecting their bodies to gruelling treatment, including through extreme diets and intense exercise regimes. This chapter questions which of the weight loss methods widely reported across the press are likely to engender weight loss in readers and, more importantly, whether or not they are likely to encourage healthy attitudes towards the body and the self.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Obesity in the NewsLanguage and Representation in the Press, pp. 146 - 175Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021